British Business Tips

Tip 1
British companies tend to develop managers to be generalists rather than specialists and managers are expected to be interested in, and take a view on, a wide number of topic areas.

Tip 2
Recent years have seen a change in working patterns with many people moving job and employer on a reasonably frequent basis.

Tip 3
British organisations have moved away from the traditional hierarchical models of the past towards a much flatter system. In the process, many layers of management have been removed.

Tip 4
Job descriptions in the UK are often very unclear and imprecise leaving a potential vacuum in ownership of task and decision.

Tip 5
Managers try to develop a close, friendly relationship with staff and like to be seen as part of the team rather than removed from the team.

Tip 6
The value of pure academic education is viewed with some suspicion. Respect is earned through experience rather than qualification. It is rare to see a professor or doctor on the senior management committee of a large UK company.

Tip 7
Managers find it difficult to articulate direct instructions and will often couch instructions in very diplomatic language.

Tip 8
There are a lot of meetings in the UK and they often fail to produce the desired decision.

Tip 9
The British do less empirical preparation for meetings than other nationalities – seeing the meeting as a forum for debating potential solutions.

Tip 10
Meetings are reasonably formally structured, roughly following a predetermined agenda and keeping more or less to time.

Tip 11
The British like to be part of a team and like the team to have a companionable atmosphere.

Tip 12
Members of a team are expected to take an holistic interest in the project, rather than confining themselves to their allocated role only.

Tip 13
The British place diplomacy firmly before directness and will try to avoid engendering negative emotions in meeting situations etc.

Tip 14
The British can misinterpret direct speech as rudeness, aggression and arrogance.

Tip 15
Humour is acceptable and expected in virtually all business situations. Humour is not seen as unprofessional, even when used in tense and difficult meetings.

Tip 16
Self-promotion is not appreciated in the UK. It is far better to self-deprecate. It is, of course, acceptable to be positive about your company and products.

Tip 17
Meetings will often begin with a good amount of seemingly meaningless small talk. This is seen as a good way to start the meeting in a harmonious manner.

Tip 18
Women play an increasingly prominent role in business life – especially in service industries.

Tip 19
Formal dress codes of dark blue and grey suits are still predominant although changes are starting to occur in this area.

Tip 20
Colleagues will virtually always use first names amongst themselves. It is considered very formal and distancing to use surnames.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Great Britain only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.